Space Mercenaries Ep2-CDAA 101
by Fanwriterf
Summary: Summary in ch. 1. This is a Krystal X Human male story. Advice you read Space Mercenaries ep. 1 first
1. Chapter 1

**The Long awaited Sequel has arrived, I'm really sorry its taken so long. So there have been a few changes to the plot so I ended up just redoing ep. 2 which is one of the reasons why its late.**

 **PLEASE READ- As stated in the first one I have changed somethings in the Star Fox universe to fit my Story, if you don't like it than just stop reading, don't be a dick head and start crying about how I changed things. this story isn't Canon to the actual Star Fox, Krystal is still with Fox in the real thing not a Human.**

 **I'm really happy to be posting Ep. 2, just a few notes.**

 **I will try to post two chapters once every week.**

 **Just like last time, if I get ten reviews or one thousand views within a week then I'll post four chapters.**

 **Every third chapter will be a flashback chapter, so you can get a better understanding of everyone's friendship and what all they went through at training.**

 **Since I no longer have MS Word, the new program I uses doesn't correct grammar mistakes, so there my be a lot of those. I'm really bad at grammar but I will cut my left nut off before spending money to get MS Word back, money hungry thieving bastards.**

 **That's it, I really hope you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you think. If you're going to post negative reviews then at least add on how I can improve the story.**

* * *

 **Space Mercenaries  
-CDAA 101-**

 **~Joshua Grant, Lucy hare and three other members of team Ragthorn have nearly completed the ten-week training program at the Cornerian Defense Army Academy. The team head over to the planet Fortuna to complete their last week of training, however on the way to the base their Star Cruiser is attacked and crash-lands. After trying to make their way to the Cornerian base the Cadets stumble upon a small farming settlement which is being harassed by a Drug Lord. Believing the settlement will reveal the whereabouts of the drug operations to the Cornerian government, the Leader orders the settlement to be eradicated. With no way of contacting the Cornerian army, the settlement's best chance of survival rest in the hands of five CDAA Cadets. ~  
**

* * *

 **Ch.1**  
 **Dog Fight**

An explosion rang all throughout the valley, the peaceful Farmers quickly dropped what they were doing and turned their full attention to where the source of the sound was coming from. A large mountain sized hill that was completely covered in vegetation blocked their view of what caused the explosion. The Farmers continued to stare at the large hill waiting for something else to happen, just when they thought nothing else was going to happen another explosion occurred. This time however they saw the flames from the blast reach over the hill, and from the flames came a large black and green Star Ship. The Ship made a horrible screeching cry as it flew above the frightened Farmers, suddenly three more black and green Star Ships flew by and caught up to the first one. Before anyone could blink the Star Ships reversed and headed straight for the Farmers at full speed.

"RUN!" One of the Farmers cried out and began to shove his way past other Farmers that blocked his way, the rest of the Farmers also began to shove each other out of the way to get to safety, suddenly the Farmers heard the Ships' twin Gatling guns fire. Green plasmic rounds began to rain down on the Farmers and their settlements. Each round that struck the ground sent dirt and plasmic mist into the air, Farmers began to trample on anyone who was unlucky enough to fall to the ground, Children cried out for their parents who died, the Farm animals broke through their pens to escape to safety. It didn't take long for the attackers to set the Farming settlement to fire, columns of smoke raised high into the sky. With this settlement destroyed it was time to move on to the next.  
The Leader of this ruthless gang smiled in delight at the handy work him and his buddies had done, the sight of all the destruction and death made him giggle. The Brown Fox flipped a switch on his control board.

"Another fine slaughter boys, let's say we hit one more settlement before dinner?" He asked, the reply came in sickening laughter.

"Lead the way boss." One of the members called out, the gang leader smiled even more. The thought of killing had flood his mind so much that he didn't even notice five militarized Star Ships quickly approaching from behind.

* * *

Five dark grey and yellow colored Star Ships with "CDAA" labeled in white on each wing had quickly made their way to the sight after one of them pointed out a couple of large smoke pillars rising to the sky, each smoke site they went to was the same. The grounds where covered with plasmic scorch marks and dead bodied, however unlike the other sites the attackers had yet to make their escape from this one. The Squad leader began a quick system check, everything appeared to be in order. He flipped the open com switch and addressed his team.

"We can't let these ass hats attack another settlement, we are the only patrol out in this sector, so it falls to us to take these guys out. Everyone ready?" He asked and turned his gaze to look at two holo screens on the right side of the cockpit. The Screen on bottom showed what was behind his Ship, the screen on top was split into four sections and showed the other four members of his team. To the top left was a pink and tan colored female Rabbit named Lucy Hare, the top right was a brown and white male Dog named Nathan Hugh, to the bottom left was a pink and black spotted male Pig named Jackman Stout, lastly to the bottom right was a pure white colored female lion named Leana Keith.

"Ready" They replied almost in perfect unison, they then looked at their own holo screen to see their leader. The newly discovered alien, the human Josh Grant.

"Let's kick some ass." He said and quickly placed his hand on the thruster lever and pushed it all the way forward igniting his back burners in bright blue flames and increasing his speed. The Other four pilots did the same and prepared for the battle at hand. Josh used his thumb to flip a switch on his steering stick which activated his weapons and aiming system, which was shown as a red holo square in the center of his canopy. Once he was close enough to get one of the black and green ships inside the red square it instantly turned green which meant he was locked on, to the side of the green square was a set of numbers which told him how far his target was. At the moment, he was five hundred yards and closing in fast. He kept a stead finger on the Gatling trigger and kept his eye on his target. At three hundred yards, he squeezed the firing trigger and sent hundreds of blue plasmic rounds at his target.

The rounds struck the black and green Star Ship, the Ship took damage but not enough to destroy it. The Gang Star Ship quickly spun out of the incoming fire and turned around to fire back as did the rest. A series of green and blue plasmic rounds began to fly as the dog fight progressed. Josh carefully eyed each ship that came close to him while he fought with someone else, while his team out numbered them, they however appeared to have much stronger shielding and weapons. To top it off the gang seemed to have activated some type of signal scrambler which kept Josh and his squad from getting a lock on their ships.

"I can't get a lock on them!" Nathan shouted as he kept trying to lock onto his target.

"They've activated a scrambler, switch to your Gatling and eye ball it the best you can." The Human ordered and quickly barrel rolled out of incoming fire. A few rounds still managed to strike his air craft which caused it to shake a little. Josh looked to the center of his control panel, there was a blue screen which showed a schematic of his Ship. To the lower left of the screen showed his reflector shielding's power level, which stated his shielding's power was at 73%

"Josh, you alright?" Lucy asked.

"I'm fine Lu." He replied and quickly noticed another gang ship approaching him from the left, the ship began to fire it's plasmic rounds at him. Josh quickly sent his craft into a nose dive and began plummeting to the ground. He kept switching his view from the canopy to the rear-view screen monitor. The Gang ship was hot on his trail firing its weapons at him. As the Human continued to dive down he started to swerve to the left and right to avoid getting hit.

 **Low altitude…Pull up…Pull** up His on-board system started to say, Josh kept his focus as he approached the ground at sound breaking speed. **Pull up…Pull up**.

"I'm doing it, shut up already." He said and quickly pulled his steering stick all the way back sending his Ship launching back up. He quickly checked his rear-view screen to find the gang ship had also pulled up just in time.

"Shit." The Human cursed, he had hopped the idiot wouldn't have had time to pull up, suddenly an alarm started to go off in the cock pit.  
 **You have been locked onto, evasive maneuvers recommended**. Josh looked back to the canopy and noticed the warning moving across the windshield. Switching back to his rear-view screen he saw the gang member firing a missile. Josh quickly tilted the steering stick to the right, his ship moved out of the rockets path and he watched as it flew past him. Suddenly the rocket did a 360 turn and headed for him.

"God damn trackers!" He cursed and flew his craft out of the missiles path once again. The rocket turned around again and continued to chase down its target. Josh lowered his ship and flew into a lushes' green valley, he began to fly past small hills and constantly changed his course to throw the tracking missile off target.  
However, no matter what he did the damn thing remained on his tail and gaining speed. The Human looked to his control panel and an idea came to mind. He quickly started to push some buttons on the panel.

 **Speak a command the system spoke**.

"Launch all flares." He ordered, suddenly five flaps opened at the back of his ship. Nearly thirty red flares launched out and struck the missile causing it to blow up. The human cheered for a few seconds and then turned his ship around and headed back to the dog fight.

* * *

Lucy had quickly moved her ship out of oncoming fire and focused her attacks on one ship, she eyed her target and started to fire her Gatling guns. Her plasmic rounds were missing the target by a couple of feet, so she repositioned her air craft for a better aim and fired. However, the gang ship flew off into a different direction. Lucy growled.

' **Damn it, I really could use my aiming system right now**.' She thought and quickly back flipped her craft and followed her target. Once she was close enough she started to fire her weapons, she had to constantly maneuver her Star Ship to get a better aim, each time she managed it the target kept pulling away.

"Agh…Stop moving and stay still!" She shouted.

"Shit, my shielding is gone!" Nathan called out. Lucy turned her attention to the rest of the battle and noticed Nathan's craft being shot at.

"Hold on Nate, I'm coming for you." She called out and pulled her craft away from her previous target. Pushing the thruster lever all the way forward the Rabbit broke the sound barrier and quickly approached her endangered team mate. Lucy quickly positioned her craft and started to fire her Gatling guns at the gang ship. Only a few of her rounds managed to hit the target, but it was enough to get the enemy to move away from Nathan.

"Thanks Lu, Shields recharging now."

"No problem." She replied and pulled her craft away and noticed Stout and Leana taking on another gang member, Lucy was fixing to head to them but stopped when her craft started to shake violently from taking fire. The Hare quickly moved her craft away from the fire and back flipped behind the attacker, she started to chase the target down while firing her Gatling. Round after round flew past the intended target which began to annoy Lucy. Suddenly one of the CDAA ships crashed right into the gang ship, there was a horrible crashing sound, pieces of each ship flew into the air as both aircraft began to spin out of control, the CDAA however managed to halt it's spiral and flew off.

"There you go Lu, that ought to slow it down for yah." Josh called out. Lucy felt her heart leap out of her chest.

"Josh! What the hell! You could have died doing that idiot!" She shouted, Josh rolled his eyes.

"Stop shouting and start shooting, he's not going to spin out forever." Lucy growled in annoyance and focused on the spiraling gang craft. She flew herself as close as she could and started to fire her Gatling at the ship. Once the shielding was disrupted the plasmic rounds began to cut through the ship like a knife through butter. The Craft exploded in flames and hurled to the ground. Lucy turned her gaze to the holo screen that showed her team, she glared at the human and scuffed.

"God your as reckless as Fox, no wonder Krystal asked me to watch out for you." Josh smiled. Lucy couldn't help but smile back, the two met each other the first day and instantly became friends, at first Josh thought Lucy would have resented him for her father dyeing in the Human Gorton war, the man who gave his live to help end the War. Were it not for Peppy Hare, New York City would have been lost and Josh along with Fox McCloud would have died. However, as it turned out she didn't blame Josh at all or have any resentment towards him or the people of Earth.

Since day one the two have stuck by each other's side, each day they trained together and depended on each other. As the weeks went on she understood what Krystal meant by Fox and Josh being alike, so it came as no surprise when the Human was made squad leader of team Ragthorn, either it was the fact that he had previous military background, or the fact that everyone on the team naturally looked up to him and came to him for advice. Whatever the reason, Lucy would gladly follow her friend to the ends of the galaxy.

"Lucy look out!" Josh shouted, before Lucy could even comprehend what the Human was talking about her on board systems started to speak.  
 **You have been locked onto, evasive maneuvers recommended**. Lucy felt her heart drop as she saw the missile heading straight for her.

"Move Lucy!" The Human ordered, Lucy quickly shook her head to clear her mind and quickly moved out of the missiles path, luckily for her it was a regular missile and not a tracker. Josh quickly positioned his Ship and began to fire his Gatling at the gang member, Lucy turned her craft around and began firing as well. With the two of them firing at the same target it didn't take long before his shields disrupted, their combined barrage of plasmic rounds tore through the ship and caused it to explode. Josh moved his gaze to the Holo screen and looked at Lucy.

"You alright?" He asked in a concerned tone, Lucy nodded.

"Yeah, that was pretty close…Thanks Josh." She replied

"Don't mean to interrupt." Nathan called out, "But we still have two targets to take care of you know." The annoyed dog eyed both Lucy and Josh on the holo screen.

"You're right…We're on our way." Lucy quickly said and pushed her thruster lever forward all the way, her backburners lit up in blue fire and she began soaring through the sky, gaining speed and breaking the sound barrier. Josh followed suit and the two quickly made their way back to the rest of the team.

"Alright Nathan, Stout you two focus your attacks on one ship. Lucy, Leana and I will focus on the other." Josh ordered.

"Yes Sir." They replied and quickly sprang into action. Nathan and Stout began to attack at one of the ships while Lucy, Leana, and Josh attacked the other. In a matter of moments both gang ships exploded. Suddenly everything froze, across their Canopy windshield **"Mission completed"** appeared in green glowing letters. Everything except the glowing letters went black.

* * *

A few years back the CDAA began to experiment with Virtual Simulations, and just as many had believed, more Cadets performed better with Virtual Simulations than those who used traditional means. As such the CDAA started to use the Simulations in the final course of Aerial combat. The Ten-week training program was separated into two separate training courses. Five weeks of Land combat, and five weeks of Aerial combat. This being the ninth week for team Ragthorn meant that this was their second to last Aerial simulation test. After today they will head to the Planet Fortuna to finish off their last week.

For Josh that week couldn't come fast enough, during his time in the CDAA the only thing his mind was truly on was Krystal. The Telepathic alien from the destroyed planet of Cerinia. They first met each other ten months ago, when Krystal crashed her Arwing into a lake, Josh rushed in and saved her. For the next two months, she had stayed at his apartment while she tried to fix a communicator to get a ride off Earth. Over those two moths the two got real close to each other. What started out as friendship bloomed into love. Though the two talked a few times every week, it was never enough. Just talking to her didn't fill his emotional need to be with her. He had to hold her, he had to feel her body against his, to feel her hug him as tightly as he hugged her. Before the Academy the two had spent every day in each other's company, but not being able to see her and feel her whenever he wanted, it felt like a living hell, one that didn't seem like it would end. Since their departure, it felt like Josh was missing a piece of him. There was a part of his soul that was gone, a black empty void that killed him a little every day.

Josh sighed and reached his hand towards the open Canopy switch located to the far left of the cockpit. After flipping the switch the Canopy started to open, hissing as it did. Once the Canopy was fully open Josh unbuckled the safety belts and climbed out of the simulation machine designed to look like a standard militarized Star Ship on the inside. On the outside however it looked like an ice box machine that motels and stores kept around back. Josh looked over at the other four simulation machines to find each of his team mates approaching him.

Stout was the shortest of everyone, he was short and fat as you would expect for a pig. He was a shy fellow, but smart, very smart. Lucy was tall and thin, she stood a few inches taller than Josh and a foot taller if you counted her ears. She was kind and compassionate, she was also a little bit oblivious and a bit of a klutz. The bathroom and showers were in the same room, the stalls that divided the showers did not cover the back side, only the sides. The Toilets were positioned so that whoever was using them was looking right at the shower. One day she walked in, took her clothes off and took a shower, all while Josh was using the toilet. She didn't even find out until she finished and started to dry off, from then on, she made sure the room was empty before she showered. Nathan was around Josh's height and size, he had a good sense of humor and really like to tell jokes. No joke was too offensive for him. Leana was the tallest and most physically built out of everyone else, she looked like a fluffy white furry body builder. Young Schwarzenegger had nothing on her. She didn't speak much, but when she did you wouldn't believe the voice she had. Josh would admit while Krystal had a beautiful voice, it was nothing compared to Leana, you would think an angle was talking when she spoke.

Once the others approached Josh they got into their Military stance, standing straight, feet spread shoulder length, and their hands behind their back. They then turned their attention to the center of the room. There in the center was Drill Instructor Parson, a red and blue feathered bird who teaches the Aerial combat course. Next to him was a grey and white colored wolf, Thatch Skinner, their physical training and Ground Combat Drill instructor. He was the one who woke them up at around six in the morning every day and worked their asses off for hours on end preforming exercise after exercise. Much of the training at the academy was very much like the training he received on Earth.

Even though their Ground combat course was over, Skinner didn't want his Cadets to get lazy. So, he stayed on as their Physical Instructor and constantly has them preform vigorous exercises, such as having them carry a hundred-pound log five miles up and down hills. He makes them head over to the gun range to keep their Marksmanship sharp and sparing mats to keep their fighting maneuvers fresh in their minds. To him five weeks isn't enough to learn about Ground combat, in fact he has stated many times that were it up to him, Ground combat would last ten weeks as well as Aerial combat.

D.I Parson seemed to still be on the main terminal that controlled the simulations, D.I Skinner seemed to be breathing down the Bird's neck as he too looked at the terminal screen. Whatever it was they were doing Josh couldn't tell, the two men were blocking the screen. Whatever small glimpses he could see told him that they were watching some video of some sorts.

"Come on already." Nathan softly spoke to himself and his team, Josh couldn't agree more, it seemed like every time Ragthorn did a simulation Parson and Skinner would be huddling up to the terminal watching something. Now that the human thought about it maybe they were watching a recording of their progress. Though they did complete the objective which was to destroy all enemy targets, their true success lied in D.I Parson's feathered hands. If he saw something he didn't like he could technically set the mission as a failure and force them to do it again. However, he hasn't done it so far.

A few more moments passed before Parson and Skinner turned their gaze to team Ragthorn, the two men shared a quick glance with each other and then moved to confront the team.

"I'll admit, you did better than most of the other teams." Parson said, "Not the greatest strategy I've seen, but you did complete the objective without any casualties." Parson then made his way to Josh.

"Cadet Grant…What you did by flying your Ship into another was very dangerous and completely reckless. You needlessly endangered your own life, I will however congratulate you for quickly using your flares to destroy the tracking missile, and for having multiple members of your team focusing their attacks on one Ship at a time. You out numbered them and used that to your advantage, good job." Parson then made his way to Lucy.

"Cadet Hare…You should spend more time focusing your attacks instead of having idle chats." He said in a bothered tone, Lucy nodded.

"Yes Sir…Sorry Sir." She said, Parson then walked up to Nathan.

"Cadet Hugh, heading straight into an outnumbered fight is never a wise choice. Instead of calling for help you believed you could take out two enemy ships that had both superior weapons and shielding, while you had your aiming system disabled. It was only when your shields were down that you called for help, your teammates are there to help. Keep that in mind for next week."

"Yes Sir." The Dog replied, lastly Parson made his way to Stout and Leana, like most of the time they did better than the rest of the team.

"Now then." He said and took a few steps back, "All five of you have worked very hard, and showed much progress these past four weeks…Now only one final test stands in your way. Tomorrow morning Team Ragthorn will be transported to a Cornerian military base for your final Aerial combat test, unlike before you will fly real military Star Ships and preform a series of test. After that you will come back to Corneria for your graduation…As I won't be accompanying you, I would like to go ahead and wish you five good luck." He said and saluted them, Ragthorn replied by saluting back. Parson gently smiled before walking off into his office, suddenly Skinner approached them.

"Normally, you would have the rest of the day off to rest and such…However, I won't be going with you all when you go…Which means today is your last day of Physical training. And if you think that I'll go easy on you…You have another thing coming fuck tards, this is my last day to make you little shit heads sweat like you've never sweat before…And believe me, I'm going to make the best of it." He finished with a smirk "Form up!" He barked. Everyone quickly jumped at his loud shout and quickly formed into a line.

"Ready and Move out, let's start this LONG day with a nice calming five-mile jog. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Ch.2**  
 **A Call**

Nathan painfully made his way to his bed, every muscle in his body was burning and pleading with him not to move any more. The Dog slowly and painfully made his way to his bed in the Ragthorn's barracks, without a second thought he plopped down onto the bed. The beds were not all that soft and comfortable, however after the hard day Skinner put him through, the bed felt like it was made for a King.

"I cannot believe the hell he put us through." He whined, Lucy slowly made her way to a chair by the window, she had a large ice bag tapped around her thigh.

"I think I pulled a muscle." She said as she sat down in the chair, a long sigh leaving her mouth as her body started to relax.

"I think I pulled every muscle in my body." Stout said as he leaned up against the wall, "No one was ever meant to run a total of fifteen miles in one day, and those exercises...Good God, I'm surprised I'm still alive." He said and slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor. Suddenly Leana came jogging into the room.

"I don't know what you're all whining about, I thought it was easy. I bet I could even go on a few more miles." She cheerfully boasted, everyone turned their gaze to the white Lioness and gave her a questionable look.

"Leana if all of us were as physically built as you, I'm sure we all could go on a few more miles…How the hell did you get so big anyway?" Nathan asked, Leana shrugged her shoulders while still jogging in place.

"Genetics I guess…" Leana paused and quickly scanned the room, she discovered they were one person short, "Where's Josh?"

"He's in the communication lounge, talking with Krystal I think." Lucy replied, at hearing this Nathan's ears flickered and the Dog quickly sat up ignoring the burning, aching pain of his muscles.

"Hey Lu, just who is this Krystal chick that he talks to every week?" He asked, Lucy looked up at him and halted her action of rubbing her soar calf muscle.

"Krystal is his girlfriend, you know that already." She said and went back to massaging her calf. Nathan made his way to the edge of the bed and dangled his legs over the side.

"Yeah I know, but like who is she exactly? What does she do for example?" Lucy continued to rub her soar muscles, not fully paying attention she spoke out.

"She's a Star Fox member." Nathan's face took on a look of utter disbelieve.

"Really? No shit?" He asked, Lucy nodded.

"Yip." She replied. On the other side of the room Leana started to grin and turned her attention to Stout.

"Told you it was the same Krystal." Leana said to her Swine team mate, Stout looked up at her and nodded in response.

"That you did." Leana then held out her hand, Stout looked at it and then back to Leana. His ears slightly lowered.

"Aw come on...I didn't think you were serious." He said, Leana chuckled a little.

"Pay up little man, a bets a bet." Stout lowered his head in defeat and reached into his pocket and pulled out a candy bar. He sadly looked into Leana's bright yellow eyes.

"But I only have two left..." He wasn't able to finish as Leana swiped it out of his hand.

"Now you only have one left." She said with a snicker and started to eat the candy bar as she walked out of the room. Nathan slowly stood from his bed and walked over to Lucy and sat down on the chairs armrest.

"Wow...I had no idea Josh's Krystal and Star Fox Krystal was the same chick...Tell you what, I've always had a crush on her." He said, Lucy grinned.

"Don't let Josh hear you say that...I can tell he's the jealous type."

"Well, he can keep Krystal...I've got my sight on someone much prettier." He said and eyed Lucy with a gentle smile, Lucy rolled her eyes. She knew it was only a matter of time before Nathan confronted her about wanting to date her. The constant flirting and besides Josh she was the one he spent the most time with. To her the idea of being with someone of a deferent species seemed kind of gross, she didn't care if others did it, she just didn't want to do it herself.

"Oh Nate...It seems you've picked the one girl in the whole galaxy who prefers to date her own kind." Nathan frowned a little.

"You...You mean...Leana wont date me?" He asked, Lucy's ears flickered and she looked up at Nathan.

"Leana?"

"Yeah...Who'd you think I was talking about?" He asked with a serious look. A bunch of jumbled up words began to leave Lucy's mouth as she tried to comprehend the situation. "Did...Did you think I was talking about...You?" Lucy's cheeks started to get warm.

"W-what...N-NO...Of course not." She nervously chuckled.

"Ha, awkward." Stout said to himself and turned to leave the room, leaving the now flustered and Confused Hare and uncomfortable Dog Alone.

* * *

 **"Sending call."** Appeared in green on the terminal's black screen, the human gently knocked his fingers against the metal tables in a rhythm that matched a tone he had heard long ago. Krystal had sung it once while she showered in the bathroom, he couldn't quite remember the name of the song but he knew how it went. When ever he had the rare chance of not having to do anything he would usually hum, whistle, or tap the song. Josh looked at a clock in his booth, the communication lounge was a large room filled with thirty private booths where people could talk in private to whoever it is they wanted to call. Each booth had a clock so you knew what time it was and how long you had for each call, which was five minutes before the call would abruptly end. Most of his free time was spent here in the same booth for the past nine weeks.

"Call connected." Flashed on the screen.

"About time." He said and leaned forward from his seat. The Terminal's black screen suddenly pixelated and showed an older looking Human man wearing nice clothes. The older man smiled.

"Grant, well this is a most welcomed surprise." Ryan spoke, Josh smiled back.

"Just wanted to check in and see how the Ambassador of Earth is doing." He replied. Ryan shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"Well, its certainly not the most exciting job in the world. It feels like I have a meeting every four hours." He said and started to rub his temples, Josh grinned a little. After the Human Gorton War ended he himself was the Ambassador of Earth for five months before he went to the Academy, every day he was at some type of meeting to discuss Earth joining the Lylat system, and as you would expect at meetings discussing power, nothing got done. Humans kept demanding more of Lylat's technology before Earth even officially joined the system. The Lylat's Galactic council was getting just as annoyed at the humans as Josh was. It really wasn't until Ryan started attending the meetings that he knocked some sense into the power hungry ass holes. Once Ryan started taking charge Earth finally became a part of the Lylat system.

"Don't remind me, I had a splitting head ache every day...And I'm pretty sure I got two ulcers as well." He joked, "So how do you like living on a different planet?" Ryan ended up having to move to Corneria after he officially became the Ambassador of Earth, from what Josh knew Ryan ended getting a nice set up.

"Its not bad, I've heard a lot of stories about Corneria. Its nice to actually see it and all." Suddenly Ryan started to look a little sad, Josh could see it in his eyes.

"Are you okay Ryan?" This wasn't the first time the older man looked really depressed, in fact when ever they spoke he could tell that Ryan wanted to tell him something, but he never brought anything up.

"I'm fine, just a little home sick and...Well, today is my eldest son's birthday." Josh raised a brow.

"Shouldn't you be happy instead of depressed then?"

"Its...Its a long story Josh...One I really don't want to tell just yet."

"Alright, sorry I asked." he said

"No its fine...Its just hard to talk about."

"Is...Is he okay?" Josh asked, Ryan nodded.

"Yeah...Well as far as I know...I haven't seen him in years. I haven't seen any of my children in years...But listen to me ramble on...How have you been?" He asked, Josh gave Ryan a questionable look. Josh knew better than to try to force an answer out of the older man, he'd talk about it when he was ready to and not a second before.

"It's good, tomorrow is the first day of the last week. We have one more Aerial test and then that's it. Graduation and then I can move on with my life."

"Do you still plan on joining Fox and his team?" Josh nodded.

"Yeah, its the whole reason I'm going through the Academy. Fox wanted me to come here before he'd make me a member of Star Fox. Not really sure why they couldn't teach me everything I needed to know, its actually not that hard to fly one of these Star Ship thingies. But I really shouldn't be complaining though, he's giving me a chance to do something more with my life than recording recruitment videos and going to God awful places just to record battles and show people how shity places are." Josh paused for a second, "Going to different planets, helping people, flying Space ships for God sake...That's a better life than what I had." And it's all thanks to Fox and Krystal, Krystal opened his eyes and showed him all the possibilities that lied beyond his planet, and Fox was helping him to reach for those possibilities. No one in his whole life had ever done something like that for him.

"Well it sounds like your mind is pretty set on this, I hope everything goes just as you hope it will...I truly mean that Grant." Ryan spoke and spawned a gentle caring smile, Josh did the same.

"I'm pretty lucky to have you as a friend Ryan, I really am. I'd never in a millions years thought that having a few drinks with a Col. would lead to friendship. But I'm glad it did."

"Me to." Ryan replied, suddenly it sounded like a door opened from Ryan's position.

"Mr. Ambassador, its time for the 6:35 meeting." A female called out, Ryan sighed and rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the screen.

"Like I said, every four hours...Thanks Jane, I'll be there in just a moment." He said and the sound of a door closing was heard, Ryan sighed again and looked back at the screen, "Well it was swell receiving your call Grant, I'm afraid our chat has to end here. Ambassador work and all that, until next time." He said and then suddenly the screen went back and the words.

 **"Call ended."** Appeared on the screen, Josh leaned back in his seat and started to rub his neck before looking at the clock. "6:35 P.M" Josh looked back at the terminal and started to type in the number for his next call.

 **"Sending Call."** It took a few moments but eventually the call went through. The screen however was still black.

"Hey." A female voice called out. Josh gently smiled.

"Hey Krystal, It's me...I think there's something wrong with the transmission..."

"This is Krystal, you know what to do." She said and suddenly there was a beep sound. Josh raised a brow.

"An answering machine? Really? Oh ah hey Blue its me...I ah...Just wanted to check in real quick. I guess your out...Obviously your out, otherwise I would be talking to you and not an answering machine...I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing good, tomorrow is the start of my tenth week and after that I graduate finally...And then we can go flying like I promised we would. Ah Lucy wanted me to say hi for her, and ah...I ah...I don't know what to say to be honest...Just that I miss you , a lot. Ever since we said good by at the Academy...I've felt like a part of me was lost and...I...I just really miss you Blue, well I got to go...Tomorrow we're heading to Fortuna for our last Aerial test, I want to get as much rest as I can before we leave...Bye." He said and ended the call. The human could feel his heart throbbing in pain, if he didn't do something to keep himself distracted he would only hurt even more.

* * *

Nathan aimed the practice Plasma Rifle at the blue holo graphic target, He eased his breathing and pulled the trigger. Being that it was a practice Plasma Rifle it of course didn't fire actual rounds, it did however have the same recoil as an actual Plasma Rifle, as well as a laser that would go off every time he pulled the trigger, if the laser touched anywhere on a holo target it counted as a hit. After Nathan pulled the trigger the simulated recoil kicked in, the blue holo target's head was highlighted red, meaning that's where the target got hit. He smiled to himself and lowered the gun. Ever since that awkward moment with Lucy the Dog wanted to be by himself for a few moments. Luckily the shooting rang was empty, It wasn't that he didn't like Lucy, in fact he liked her a lot. He just liked Leana more, not to mention the fact that she was a good two feet taller than him really turned him on for some reason. The only bad thing was that he had no idea if she even remotely felt the same way about him. She did laugh at all his jokes, that surely meant something right?

Suddenly the sound of someone approaching pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned his gaze to find Josh pulling a practice gun from the counters slots, he made his way to the stall next to Nathan and activated some holo targets. He aimed the practice Pulse Rifle at some holo targets and took a deep breath and then started to fire at each of the targets that appeared at impressive speed. Ten holo targets destroyed all within five seconds. Josh turned to look at Nathan.

"Wanna little friendly competition?" He asked, Nathan thought about it for a second and figured why not.

"Sure." He said. Josh turned his attention to the controls on his stall as did Nathan, they both set up twenty targets to appear. Next a holo counter used to keep score appeared in both of their stalls. The two men aimed their weapons and waited for the targets to appear. There was a soft 'ding' sound and then a few targets appeared. Josh quickly aimed his gun at one target that was to the far left and quickly pulled the trigger, the center of its chest was highlighted red and then the target disappeared. Quickly moving his weapon to another target the human fired his gun highlighting the target's head.

Nathan had just brought down another target, he wasn't sure if it was his fifth or four target. His mind was only focused on hitting as many targets as he could. A target appeared near the center of the room, he quickly aimed his gun to fire. However just before he could pull the trigger its chest highlighted in red, Nathan softly grunted at his stolen point and focused on the next target that appeared. Despite the stressful situation of trying to get more points than his friend, Nathan was actually having a good time and soon forgot all about that awkward situation with Lucy.

Josh however wasn't exactly enjoying himself like he knew he should be, his mind was focused too much on Krystal. Maybe if she was there to answer his call he wouldn't be feeling so empty inside. His emotional state was so disrupted that he didn't even relies that he had stopped firing his weapon. Grunting in frustration at himself he quickly shook his head and continued to fire his weapon.

Once all forty targets were destroyed the two men checked their holo counter. Josh had gotten 17 points while Nathan got the last 23. Nathan began to give the human a questionable look, never had anyone out scored the Human. Nathan was smart enough to know he didn't get a lucky break back there. After setting the practice Rifle back in its slot he made his way over to his leader.

"So...What happened?" He asked, Josh turned his gaze to his team mate and raised a brow.

"What do you mean?"

"I won." He replied, Josh turned his gaze to the holo counter.

"Seems you did, what of it?" Josh asked and placed his practice Rifle back in its slot, Nathan gave Josh a sympathetic look.

"Come on, you're my friend...Since when have you never been able to talk to me?" He asked, Josh stared the Dog in his blue eyes and sighed, Josh normally preferred to talk to Lucy about him and Krystal as the Rabbit and Vixen are close friends as well. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get Nathan's perspective on the situation.

"I told you how I ended up meeting Krystal and coming to Lylat right?" He asked, Nathan nodded his head, "Before she came into my life it was...Shit, I had a cheating girlfriend who I wanted to marry, a shity boss who liked nothing more than to get under my skin, I was depressed a lot. Then one day here comes Krystal, she all but landed in my lap. Krystal was there for me when my life got really bad, I came to depend on her...Since she came into my, life until the Academy we had spent just about every waking hour in each others company, now I barely see her. I go to sleep without her, and every morning when I wake up, before I open my eyes, for the tiniest moment I hope that she's laying down next to me. But when I open my eyes all that I see is an empty spot in my bed. It feels like the most important part of my life is gone now." He spoke and leaned up against the wall of his stall.

"Wow...That's deep man, well shouldn't you be happy that tomorrow is our last week? Seven short days and then you get to be with her again right?" The human turned his gaze to the Dog and slowly shook his head.

"They may seem like short days to you, but its not to me Nate. Every day the days and nights get longer and longer, until it seems that a month has passed before the next day begins." Nathan crossed his arms over his chest and sighed.

"Wow, you must really love her." He said, the Human gave his friend a gentle smile.

"Till the day I die...Well what about you Nate? What's bugging you?" He asked, Nathan shrugged his shoulders.

"What makes you think something is bugging me?" He asked.

"Well, the only time I've seen you in the shooting range is when Skinner orders us to be here, or your upset about something." Nathan rolled his eyes.

"I'm not upset, I just wanted to get away from Lucy."

"Why?"

"We ah...Had a bit of an awkward moment a little bit ago." The Dog said and started to look uncomfortable, Josh raised a brow.

"Did she walk in on you masturbating again?" He asked, Nathan's eyes went wide.

"W-What!? S-She told you about that?" He asked and looked completely shocked, Josh started to nervously scratch the back of his head.

"Well...She might have mentioned it one day." Josh noticed how completely embarrassed the Dog looked, "She only told me, and I haven't told anyone I swear." Nathan sighed really loud and lowered his head.

"I hope no one else finds out about this...Any way, no she didn't catch me doing...You know. I told her I liked a girl and she thought I was talking about her." He paused.

"And you weren't?" The human asked, Nathan shook his head.

"I was actually talking about Leana." Josh had a confused look on his face when he heard that.

"Really? You do spend a lot of time with Lucy, and you do flirt a lot with her. I can see why she would think you were talking about her, what did you tell her?"

"I told her that I was talking about Leana, everything got awkward and then she left to go somewhere." He said and started to look a little down, "I hope I didn't hurt her feelings." Josh started to pat Nathan on the shoulder.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, but you should talk to her about it when you get the chance...What time is it?" He asked and looked over at one of the clocks on the wall "7:05 P.M" "Well, I'm going to go get something to eat, then take a shower and head to bed."

"Alright, see you later." Nathan said and made his way back to his stall and pulled out the practice Rifle and began setting up targets. Josh shook his head and started to walk out of the room.

 _'Those two are totally gonna end up together, I just know it.'_ He thought.

* * *

 **And there you go, first two chapters. Next week will be a flashback chapter.**

 **Hope you guys like it, please review and let me know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3

**ATTENTION READ! I wasn't going to do Writers notes, but I felt I should go ahead and do this one, there is a short sex scene in the beginning of this chapter, I'm doing this as a warning to anyone who wants there to be a warning of sorts, I just don't want to get bitched at because someone reading a rated M story didn't think that there might be sexual parts, but yes this story has sexual parts. enjoy**

* * *

 **Ch. 3**  
 **Trainees Part 1**

 _"So, are you nervous?" Krystal asked as she looked over at Josh, the two were laying down on her bed naked, in her room aboard the Great Fox. Josh's left arm was wrapped around her shoulder, holding her against his body. Her left arm was draped across his chest as her left leg was laying over his legs, Her head snuggled against his shoulder. The Human was looking at the grey metal celling for a few seconds before he started to nod his head._

 _"A little bit yeah, I'll be the only Human at that place, worst part is that you wont be there." He said and rolled his head over to the side so he could see her face, her Cyan eyes stared deeply into his own._

 _"Its only for ten weeks, I know it seems like a long time but, you'll be so busy with making friends and training that you'll hardly notice it." She said, Josh scuffed._

 _"Trust me Blue I'll notice...But if it means that I'll be able to stay with you, than so be it." Josh slowly began to rub his thumb up and down her shoulder, "There's nothing I wouldn't do to stay by your side." Krystal gently smiled and held onto her human tighter, the next ten weeks without him was going to be torture. Knowing that later today he would head off to the academy and no longer be by her side, that for the next ten weeks he would no longer be the last thing she saw before sleeping and the first thing she saw when she woke up was already breaking her heart, and he hadn't even left yet. The thought made her frown, she knew she should be enjoying these preciouses moments with him and live in the moment instead of worrying about later, yet she couldn't help it. They had spent nearly every second together for the past eight months, how could she not be sad to know he was leaving her._

 _"I'm going to miss you." She said as she pressed her face closer to his flesh and deeply inhaled his scent. Josh smiled and brought his lips to the top of her head and kissed her._

 _"I'm going to miss you too Blue...So how exactly did I even get accepted into the Academy? Wouldn't they wait a few years or something like that before introducing a newly discovered Alien?" He asked._

 _"Well, first off Fox had to pull a lot of strings with the Galactic Council, and the Academy administrative so they would let you attend, and yes it would take years, you and Ryan will be the only Humans allowed in Lylat for awhile, just as citizens of Lylat wont be allowed into Earth aside from the Galactic council and the ambassador of Lylat."_

 _"I guess I should go thank Fox the next time I see him...And we should probably get out of bed soon."_

 _"Why?" She asked, "I'm really comfortable in this position...Aren't you?"_

 _"Of course, but I have to start packing soon." He said, hearing his words made the Cerinian frown again. She looked over at the dog tag laying on his hair covered chest that she had given to him as a gift for his late birthday, she used her left hand and picked the dog tag up to get a better look at it. One side was blank while the other had an engraving of a blue fox's face. While it was only a few months since she gave it to him, it felt like years had passed since then. She laid the dog tag back against his chest and moved her body so she was straddling him, she looked deep into his eyes with a mix of sadness and love. Brushing one of her hands against his recently shaved cheek she spoke softly._

 _"Mate with me one last time before you go U-Kia." She said, Josh placed his hand over hers and brought it to his lips and kissed it._

 _"I'd be a fool to refuse." He said and gently rolled Krystal onto her back, he placed his lips against hers and kissed her with as much passion as he could give. Her hands began to rub all over his bare back, her claws gently dragged over his flesh. Reaching his hand down he grabbed his erected member and aligned it against her moistening entrance. He bucked his hips and entered her body causing the Vixen to grunt in both pleasure and pain. She had only just recently lost her virginity a few hours ago and was still sore from it, him being inside of her was still causing her a bit of discomfort as she had yet grown accustomed to his girth and size. Luckily though he was gentle with her and resisted his primal urge to lose control and fuck her brains out._

 _He slowly began to rock his hips back and forth, pulling his member in and out of her canal. Krystal dug her claws into his shoulders as pain and pleasure started to overpower her. She began to rock her hips back and fourth as well, trying to match his thrusts with her own. The two lovers started to breath faster and more heavily as their climax approached. Krystal lifted her legs up and wrapped them around his waist pulling him in deeper, wrapping her arms around his neck she pulled him down and brought her muzzle close to his face and began to softly moan into his ear, hearing her moaning and calling out his name was bringing him closer to the edge of orgasm. He wanted to so desperately increase his speed and thrust harder, however doing so could end up hurting her and he didn't want that, however the loving and sexually gaze in her eyes that was directed at him, her mouth which was slightly open with her tongue moving around inside, her ragged heated breathing wasn't doing him any favors. Needless to say the amount of discipline being used to control his urges was beyond count._

 _"Ah...I'm really close..." She almost whimpered out of pleasure, Josh continued his thrusting. Her eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head as her orgasm hit her. The Human could fell her vaginal walls gripping his member tightly, thus his own climax approached and he began to ejaculate inside of her. After their orgasm had subsided the two lovers remained connected for a few more moments as they tried to cool down. When the Human pulled out of Krystal she immediately felt empty on the inside and started to miss the feeling of them being connected to one another._

 _"I need a shower, you coming?"He asked, Krystal nodded and looked deeply into his eyes._

 _"Yes...I'll be there in just a moment." She said._

 _"Don't keep me waiting." He replied and moved his lips against hers and kissed her long and hard. After which he moved away from the bed and picked up his underwear from the floor and slipped it on and left the room to head to the shower area. Krystal remained on her bed, she could still fell his warm semen inside of her and knew that his sperm was already swimming through her body trying to find and fertilize her eggs. The Vixen placed her hands over her stomach, while interbred offspring was common in Lylat the actual chances of Josh getting her pregnant was ten out of a hundred. And while the Vixen completely loved and cherished the idea of having children one day, it just wasn't something she was interested in at the moment. She still had her whole life to live first before she settled down. Krystal stared up at the celling for a few more seconds before making her way over to her dresser and got out new clothes to wear after her shower._

* * *

 _Josh made his way to the Lounge area and found Fox, Slippy and Falco hanging out. They had just arrived at the Academy and now it was time for the Human to say his good byes. After the Human Gorton war ended Josh got to spend five months with Star Fox on Earth, he got to know each of the guys and considered them good friends. He knocked on the metal door frame to get the guys attentions, all three turned around when they heard the knocking and noticed the Human. Slippy was the first to reach the Human._

 _"I wish you the best of luck Josh, and in advance I'd like to just say welcome to team Star Fox." The Toad said and held out his hand for the Human to shake it, Josh smiled and reached out and shook the Frogs hand._

 _"Thanks Slippy, when I get back you'll have to show me some of the cool gadgets you guys use."Slippy nodded with a smile._

 _"Sure thing." He said and took a few steps back to let Falco through. The Bird eyed the human for a few moments before holding out a feathered hand._

 _"I look forward to fighting together sometime." The Bird said, Josh nodded and shook Falco's hand._

 _"As do I, I'm sure you have a lot you could teach me."_

 _"Yeah Maybe." He replied and then moved so Fox could finish up. Josh and Fox shared a quick smile and then shook hands._

 _"I appreciate all that you've done for me Fox, I know it must not have been easy to get me accepted into the 're giving me a chance at a better live...I wont let you down." He said_

 _"I know you wont, its been an honor to have known you Josh Grant, I look forward to you being on the team. It wont be the easiest life, but its an honorable one." Fox replied and then reached into his pant's pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "They have communication areas at the Academy, type in any of these numbers to reach one of us when ever you want to talk." He said and handed Josh the piece of paper. The Human accepted the paper and looked at it for a few seconds._

 **Fox- 22234171**  
 **Falco-22234172**  
 **Slippy-22234173**  
 **Krystal-22234175**

 _"I will, thanks again Fox." The Vulpine nodded and moved back a little. Josh reached down and grabbed his packed duffle bag and started to walk out of the lounge room. Standing in the hallway was Krystal, waiting to walk him out of the Great Fox. The two shared a quick glance before making their way to the elevator, once inside Krystal pressed the "Hanger" button on the panel and the doors closed. The ride down was spent in silence, only their breathing and elevator moving was heard. When the doors opened again they were inside the Hanger, they began to walk towards the ramp to exit the ship. To Josh it felt like the longest walk of his life, outside he could see the Academy was a large building that appeared to be made out of concrete. The Human turned his attention to Krystal to find that she was looking away from him and appeared to be sad. Josh sat his duffle bag down on the ground next to him and embraced Krystal in another hug, holding her tightly for what would be the last hug for ten weeks._

 _"They said that you could bring one personal item with you, what did you bring?" She asked._

 _"This." He said and reached into his shirt and pulled out the dog tag that she had given him, Krystal nodded and reached behind her neck and undid the straps to her emerald necklace, she then held it out for him to take._

 _"Trade me." She said, "This way…I'll have something of you, and you'll have something of me." She said with a saddened smile._  
 _Josh nodded and pulled the dog tag off and handed it to Krystal. She took the dog tag and then placed her necklace onto his palm. She then used her hand to close his fingers around the necklace, she then leaned up and kissed him for the last time. When they parted Josh looked her in the eyes and smiled._

 _"I'll graduate from here, don't worry. Then we will fly together." He said while stroking her cheek with his hand, Krystal nodded. She believed he would pass, Josh leaned down and picked up his duffle bag and started to walk away but stopped. He took one last look at Krystal and smiled._

 _"I love you." He said. Krystal could feel the tears forming in her eyes._

 _"I love you too!" She called out. Josh turned around and headed for the academy. Krystal lowered her head and felt the tears fall, she sniffled and looked at the dog tag in her hand, she looked at the blue engraving of the fox, she smiled and placed the dog tag around her neck. She looked up to find Josh had already entered the academy building. She whispered a good bye and then made her way to the Great Fox Hanger._

* * *

 _So many emotions began to flood the Human's whole being as he entered the Academy's doors. Fear and longing for what was to come, sadness that he had just said his good byes to Krystal and wouldn't be able to hold her again until he completed the training. Determination to complete the training so he could be with the woman he loved and the friends he had made. He hopped he had what it took to pass, and that he wouldn't let everyone down. As the human made his way to a white walled hallway he noticed a few Vulpines who were dressed as soldiers walking around, their outfits looked similar to what Human military personnel would wear on Earth, the only difference was that instead of different shades of green theirs were different shades of grey. They instantly froze and stared at the human, mixed emotions were on their faces for the longest time. He really couldn't blame them for staring, despite how uncomfortable it was. This was after all the first time any of them had ever seen a human before. After several more moments of awkward starring Josh switched his gaze to one of the soldiers and addressed himself. He sat his duffle bag down and saluted them._

 _"Joshua Nathanial Grant, Private 1st class of the United States Marine Core...I'm the Human." He quickly added. The two soldiers still didn't respond, they turned to look at each other for a few seconds and then turned their gaze back to Josh. The Human lowered his hand and picked his duffle bag up from the grey tiled ground and waited patiently for one of the Soldiers to talk._

 _"You don't look much like a hairless ape."One of them spoke, Josh raised a brow and turned his attention to the one that spoke._

 _"Pardon?" He asked, this time it was the other Vulpine's turn to talk._

 _"Every one was told that you would be a hairless ape." He said._

 _"Oh...Not that far off I suppose." The human replied awkwardly, "I'm here for the ten week training program." He said._

 _"Yes,we were told that you arrived and were sent to escort you to the mess hall, that's where the ten week training program presentation is about to start, please follow us." One of them said and the two began at walk off, Josh quickly followed after them and made sure to keep a few feet from them as well. After several twist and turns Josh noticed several young children running around wearing Grey jumpsuits that had yellow strips on them with "CDAA" printed on the front._

 _"I didn't know there were kids here." Josh spoke out._

 _"The Cornerian Defense Army Academy is a military school, children as young as age four are sent here to learn. The Academy becomes their home for the next twelve years. When ever they finish the twelve grade they are given the choice to go ahead and start their lives as every day civilians, or they can take the ten week training program, after completion they become official Cornerian military personnel." One of the Vulpines spoke._

 _"This is not the facility where the training program takes place, that facility is thirty miles east of here." The other spoke, "After the presentation you and the others will board transportation to the CDAA training facility."_

 _"How many Academies are there?" Josh asked, surely there were more than just one._

 _"There are a total of twenty-eight Academies on Corneria, each with its own training facility. There are one hundred and fifteen Academies total in Lylat, this Academy and facility are ranked best. General Pepper himself graduated from this Academy."The other spoke. As they continued down the hallway Josh noticed up ahead was a display case. When the three came up to it Josh paused to take a quick look._

 **"Top Cornerian Defense Army Academy Graduates"** _Was displayed on the top, there where over thirty holo graphic pictures shown. Josh quickly scanned through some of them and paused when he noticed a familiar Frog, it was Slippy Toad. Josh gave an amusement chuckle and continued to look through and suddenly his gaze landed on a picture of Fox._

 _'Explains why he wanted me to come to this Academy.' He thought and was going to walk off until another face caught his eye. He stared at the picture of Krystal for a few moments._

 _"No way." He said, sure enough bellow the picture in blue holo letters was her name. He honestly had no idea she went to the Academy, she certainly never brought it up, he would have to ask her about it sometime. He continued to stare at her picture for a while, she honestly didn't look different at all, aside from her having shorter hair when this was taken. As he continued to look at her picture he suddenly felt like his heart got pinched a little, not even apart for ten minutes and already he was missing her._

 _"Excuse me." One of the Vulpines called out, Josh turned his attention to the two Vulpines who looked a little bit irritated._

 _"You really shouldn't be late." The other added._

 _"Yeah, sorry." Josh apologized and quickly made his way up to the two Vulpine._

 _"Out of curiosity Human." One of them asked a few moments later, "Why are you doing this? The ten week training program?" Josh figured that there was no reason to lie so he decided to just tell the truth._

 _"Once I pass Fox McCloud will accept me as a member of Star Fox." He said. Josh could hear the two snickering._

 _"Right." One of them said dragging out the "I" in a doubtful tone. Josh ignored the Vulpine's answer, he knew what he was here for. After a few more turns they arrived at the Mess hall, there were hundreds of Academy students waiting there, their loud massive talking drowned out every other sound however as soon as Josh walked into the room it was only a matter of time before each of them began to shut up and stare directly at him._

 _'Great...More starring, just like the time I pissed myself in the third grade.' He thought and turned to look at the two Vulpines behind him._

 _"Thanks for the escort." He said, the two nodded and then left the room. Josh looked back at the horde of Foxes, wolves, birds and all other sorts of Anthro beings. He started to feel nervous with all of them staring at him like they were, hell some of them looked like they were afraid he would attack them at any minute, the Human noticed an empty table and quickly approached it. He used his duffle bag as a barrier and hid behind it as best as he could, despite no longer being able to see them, he could still feel their gaze on him._

 _Josh reached into his pocket and pulled out Krystal's green emerald necklace, he brought it up to his face and stared at the shiny green gem. He carefully dragged his thumb against the gem and brought the necklace to his lips and kissed it. He would give anything to be kissing her at this moment instead, however this was the best he had. Already he was missing her, these next ten weeks were going to be absolute hell, Josh looked at the necklace for a few moments before enclosing it in his fist and giving it a tight squeeze before unzipping his duffle bag and placing it gently inside and zipping it back up._

 _The sound of doors opening made the human look up, he saw a Dog dressed in military uniform, suddenly everyone in the mess hall quickly stood up and saluted the Dog. Deciding to follow suit Josh stood and saluted as well, as if one cue the Dog turned his gaze to Josh. He showed no shock expressions on his face like everyone else did, in fact he seemed pretty neutral. Suddenly he began making his way to the Human, the closer he came the shorter he actually got. By the time he stood in front of Josh he was already standing a foot shorter. It was here Josh noticed his name tag._

 **"Gen. Pepper"**

 _"Fox has told me a lot about you." He said to the Human, Josh nodded._

 _"Likewise General."_

 _"Now I've never fought a Gorton, much less a Gorton War King. They are evil savage beast, to defeat one in hand to hand combat is not an easy feat for any species." He said with hint of impressiveness in his tone. Josh shook his head._

 _"I didn't do it alone Sir. I had Fox backing me up, in fact if it wasn't for Fox...Well General we wouldn't be having this conversation, any praise should go to him and his team. They are the real Heroes in that war." General Pepper gave the human an amused look._

 _"Then what would that make you son?"Josh shrugged his shoulders._

 _"Just a Soldier doing his job Sir." Pepper chuckled a little at the Human's statement._

 _"Yes son you were a Soldier doing his job, but that doesn't mean your not a hero to some people...Trust me, you're a Hero in my book." Pepper held out his hand, Josh quickly looked down at his fur covered hand and then back into his eyes. Reaching his own hand out the two men shook. "Welcome to the Academy Cadet Grant." Josh gently smiled._

 _"Thank you sir."He said, Pepper nodded and then the two stopped shaking hands. Pepper then turned around and walked off and began to address the rest of the Cadets._

 _"As you have been told before, a member of the newly discovered Alien species known as Humans will be participating in this year's ten week training program. I except each and every one of you to treat him with as much respect and curtesy as you would any fellow Cadet, is that understood?" He loudly asked._

 _"Yes sir." The Cadets called out in unison._

 _"Good, now before the presentation begins I would simply like to say this. It is a great honor to serve your system, it doesn't matter what your reasons for serving are. Either simply just to serve or for some benefits later in life. What ever the reason is, you are serving regardless, that's enough to make me want to buy each of you a drink. Work hard and never give up, because maybe, just maybe one of you in here right now will end up taking my place in the future. Good luck Cadets." He spoke and turned around and left the room. As soon as he left the room a few more military dressed personnel walked into the mess hall._

 _"Alright Cadets listen up, this is the day you take your first steps to becoming men and women of the Cornerian Armed forces, no longer will you be citizens . I look at each and every one of you and all I see are soft weak worms who wouldn't last a day in war." Josh couldn't help but snicker at the comment, this solider apparently had no idea that someone in this room had ended a war, "But that's alright, I too was weak, and then I joined the military and now I am strong, as will you be. You will be warriors who will live and die to defend their system...Now the teen week training program is separated into two training courses, five weeks of ground combat and five weeks of Aerial combat. Each day the training will be harder, you will be pushed to your breaking points, some of you will be pushed beyond your breaking point. Now my fellow solider will call out five names and then the team you belong to, remember your team name." Another military man approached with a holo pad._

 _"Team Abercot. Eric Dustin, Dan Elk, Neil Howard, Hans Troy, and Jack Thiel." He spoke, nearly ten minutes had passed yet Josh hadn't heard his name, he did find out that every team that was called so far was in alphabetical order._

 _"Team Quintin. Dan Williamson, Sky Boney, Nick Hilly, Justin Taylor, and Will Spence." He paused and scrolled down his holo list, "Team Ragthorn. Jackman Stout, Nathan Hugh, Leana Keith, Lucy Hare, and Joshua Grant." Josh looked up when his name was called._

 _'So Ragthorn huh? Aright then.' He thought and waited for a couple more minutes for the soldier to finish reading off team names and those who belong to them. Upon finishing them he nodded towards the Solider who talked earlier. He approached the center of the mess hall._

 _"Alright, your transportation ships are waiting for you, there are two ships and twenty-six teams. If your team name begins with A-M go to transport one, M-Z go to transport two. Welcome to your first day of training Cadets." He said and motioned for everyone to leave the Mess hall, Josh stood from his seat and began to feel nervous. His heart was pounding away like never before. For the past five months this one moment was constantly in his mind, the moment he started his training. For the past five months it honestly felt like it would never come, yet here it was. All he had to do was board the transportation ship and take a ride to the facility, he almost couldn't believe it was finally happening. The Human took a few deep breaths and grabbed his duffle bag and waited for everyone to leave before he made his way out of the mess hall_

* * *

 _Boarding the Transportation Ship was just like boarding a plane from Earth, they had to make their way through a bridge like platform to get into the ship. The inside was also just like a plane back at Earth, there were two separate aisles separating three different rows of seats. The seats to the left and right only had two seats per row, while the middle had four per row. As he started to make his way further to the back of the transport he started to wish that he didn't wait to be the last to board, as now it seemed every seat was taken. Aside from there apparently being no more seats everyone was staring at him again. Josh sighed as he continued to make his way further to the back._

 _'Yes, yes I'm a new Alien, God stop staring ass holes.' He thought, finally he had made it to the back of the transportation and there seemed to be only one seat left which was next to a male Bird. Josh was fixing to make his way to the seat until he felt someone tap his shoulder, he turned around to find another male Bird standing behind him._

 _"Sorry new guy, but that's my seat." He said and weaseled his way past the Human and into the now taken seat, Josh sighed again._

 _'Damn it...Now where the hell do I go?' He asked himself and turned around hopping that he could find another free seat, yet it seemed everyone was taken, 'Looks like were sitting in the bathroom.' He thought and started to make his way towards the bathroom door, luckily it said it was unoccupied so he reached out and pressed the push pad. The door slid open and suddenly he came face to face with a pink and black spotted pig who was apparently in the middle of crapping._

 _"Oh Jesus Christ!" Josh shouted and quickly closed the door, "God damn...I'm sorry friend." He said._  
 _"That's okay." The pig said on the other side, "The lock appears to be broken." He said. Josh rolled his eyes and moved away from the bathroom door._

 _"Great, what am I suppose to do now, just stand here?" He quietly asked himself._

 _"Hey Human!" A female voice called out, Josh quickly turned his gaze to the source of the call, he ended up finding a Purple and tan fur colored Rabbit waving one of her arms at the left side of the transport, "There's a free seat right here." She said._

 _'Oh great, finally.' He thought and made his way over to the Female Rabbit, once he did she scooted over and Josh quickly sat down next to her and sat his duffle bag on his legs._

 _"Thank you very much ma'am." He said._

 _"No problem Josh." She said and started to pull out a plastic Ziploc bag filled with baby carrots, Josh paused his actions and turned his head to look at the Rabbit._

 _"How'd you know my name?" He asked, she took a bite of one of the carrots and started talking with her mouth full._

 _"Fox told me." She said, Josh raised a brow._

 _"You know Fox?" He asked_

 _"I should say so, we've know each other for years."_

 _"I'm sorry but, who are you?" He asked, the Rabbit instantly sighed loudly and popped herself on the head with her palm._

 _"I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Lucy Hare, My Father was Peppy Hare. He was a member of Star Fox."_

 _"Oh my God." He said, "Lucy, right Fox mentioned you. I'm so sorry about your Dad."_

 _"Thanks...I miss him like crazy, but I'm proud to know that he gave his live to defend others." She said and looked very sad._

 _"If it wasn't for your Dad me and Fox wouldn't be here today. I didn't know him that well, but he seemed like a good man."_

 _"Thank you, that means a lot to me. And he was a good man, I try not to think too much about it. He wouldn't want me to cry for him, he would want me to move on and enjoy the rest of my life...Baby carrot?" She offered and held the bag close so he could eat it. The Human shrugged his shoulders._

 _"Sure." He said and reached into the bag and pulled one out._

 _"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you this. Krystal wanted me to tell you when ever I saw you that she loves you dearly and wishes you the best of luck." Josh turned his gaze back to Lucy._

 _"You know Krystal?" He asked, Lucy nodded._

 _"Ah huh, Me and Krystal are friends. She'll be ecstatic that we are on the same team." Suddenly the Transportation Ship started to shake as it began taking off. Josh gripped the armrest tightly, an uneasy grunt left his mouth. Lucy turned to look at the Human._

 _"You alright?" She asked in a concerning tone. Josh nodded._

 _"Yeah, just a little nervous." He said. Lucy finished one of her carrots and made a "Mm" sound._

 _"Me too, I could have already done this when I graduated five years ago, but at the time I didn't want it."_

 _"Five years ago? So why are you deciding to do this now?" He asked._

 _"Joining the army just felt like its what my Dad would have wanted, that and the benefits would really help me get into the Greyhound University of Science." The tone she had when she said the university instantly told the Human that she really wanted to go there._

 _"What do you want to go there for?"_

 _"Its my hopes that I will earn my degree to become an Astrophysicist and teach Astrophysics at the University."_

 _"Neat, where is the School at?" He asked._

 _"The whole facility is a giant space station deep in space, right at the edge of the Lylat System's boarder. Of course I'll have to serve the minimum two year term before I can go to the school." Lucy looked at the Human and smiled while nudging him with her elbow. "Unlike some special people, get to go through training and not spend a second in the army. Krystal told me you're joining Fox's team after this." The human nodded._

 _"Yeah, that's right. Not all of us are smart enough to be Astrophysikestsess...What every you call it." He smiled, Lucy smiled back as well._

 _"I get the feeling we are going to be good friends." She said._

 _"I hope so, I could certainly use some friends here."_


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch. 4**  
 **Talking to a Friend**

 _Josh felt his body aching in pain, his vision was spinning out of control and the surface his broken body was laying on was black and felt like marble. The Human tried to move but his body wouldn't respond._

 _"Agh!" A voice shouted out in pain, Josh forced his head to move over and noticed a large red skinned creature standing over an edge of the room, a large portion of the room seemed to have been torn off. The Creature also appeared to be holding something, no not something someone. He wasn't holding them he was chocking them while suspending them in the air over the ledge. Josh felt a sense of nostalgia as the scene played out before his eyes, suddenly it hit him. The Beats, the red skinned beast, it was the Gorton War King and the person he was chocking was Fox. This didn't make any sense, this already happened before, the War King was dead he killed him himself, yet there he was just like before chocking Fox. Suddenly the War King pulled a knife from its eye that Fox had stabbed in there to save Josh, the War King roared and started to stab Fox in the chest. The Vulpine used his hands to keep the giant red fist holding the knife away from his body._

 _'Blaster!' He shouted in his mind and frantically looked around for Fox's blaster, the one he used to kill the War King. The Blaster came into sight and the Human tried to reach for it, but his body wouldn't move. "What the hell?" He asked out loud, this didn't happen last time. He was weak but he was still able to move, he picked the Scout Marshal Blaster up and made his way to the King. He called him out and sent a plasmic round in between his eyes. Its not going to happen though if he doesn't reach Fox's Blaster, Josh used every bit of energy he had and tried to move his body, but no matter what it wouldn't move._

 _"Agh!"Fox shouted in pain, Josh turned his gaze to the scene and his eyes went wide as the Gorton War King shoved the knife all the way through Fox's chest._

 _"Fox!" Josh shouted, the Gorton War King turned his head around and stared at Josh, one eye was glowing orange while the other oozed blue blood. An evil smirked appeared on his lips and he released his hold of Fox and the Vulpine fell, Josh gasped and helplessly watched as his body disappeared out of sight bellow the black marble floor. The War King then began to make his way to the Human, each step was loud and thunderous. Josh turned his gaze back to the Blaster and tried to reach it but his body still would not move._

 _"Fuck over!" He shouted, the Gorton War King came closer and closer until he was standing in front of Josh. The Human looked up, the War King was already a giant while Josh was standing up, but now laying down the Beast was massive. The Gorton raised his massive foot and slammed it down on Josh's head and everything went black._

* * *

Josh opened his eyes and nearly leapt out of his bed, his heart was racing like crazy and his breathing was quick and ragged, he started gasping for air and began to scan the area he was in. The room's walls, floors, and celling was made out of concrete. There were a total of five beds, one locker next to each bed, a large window to the back wall coming from the entrance. five chairs scattered around the room and a door to the left wall from the entrance to the bathroom and shower room, a few yellow lights dimly lit the room.

Josh felt his heart slowing down as he remembered he was inside Team Ragthorn's room. Josh placed his hands over his face and felt them slick with sweat, he pulled them away and wiped them on his blankets. Just turned his gaze over to his locker and threw the covers off of his body and approached the locker. He opened it and inside was three shelves. The top was for hygiene items, the middle was for clothing, which only came in two different types of clothing. The one piece CDAA uniform, and underwear and a green shirt which was used as sleeping wear. The bottom shelf was for towels for the shower, Josh reached up to the top shelf and reached as far back as he could. He grabbed Krystal's necklace which is where he kept it and took it out of the locker.

Josh closed the locker and sat down on his bed, the dim yellow lights above him illuminated his bed. He looked down at his hand and looked at the green emerald necklace, a gentle smile formed on his face as he started to rub the gem with his thumb. He turned his gaze back to his bed and frowned that it was void of Krystal. He remembered back to when he would wake up and find her still peacefully sleeping, soft gentle snores leaving her mouth. Other times he would wake up to find her watching him, her head propped up by her arm and her beautiful smile and loving eyes directed at him. Josh tore his gaze from his empty bed, suddenly he noticed Lucy sitting down next to him. He looked over at her and stared into her purple eyes, Josh smiled at her and she slightly frowned at him. The hare placed her left arm around Josh's left shoulder and then leaned her head against his right shoulder.

Lucy had known for a while that Josh wasn't able to sleep well at night, knowing that there was something bothering her friend and that there was nothing she could do to stop it made her feel awful. She noticed Krystal's necklace in his hand and frowned a little more, he was so much in love with her friend that he couldn't sleep well without her. While it seemed bad that he was suffering over it, Lucy wanted to be in love with someone like he was with Krystal. Even with the pain it was still a beautiful pain, to be that much in love with someone and to know they loved you just as much.

"Seven more days Josh...Just seven more days and then you two can be together." She said.

"I know Lu...I must seem like a big baby, always whining about missing her. Never being able to sleep unless she's right next to me like a child who cant sleep without their stuffed animal. I just cant help it Lucy, the longest we've ever been apart was a few days. I cant see her when I want to, cant touch her, cant kiss her, I cant love her from here...It really blows." Lucy sighed and hugged her friend as tightly as she could. She was his friend and he was hers, she would do anything for him.

"I don't think that, Nate, Leana, Stout don't think that either. You are our friend and leader, we look up to you not down." Josh smiled and used his free hand to grab ahold of Lucy's hand. He held her hand tightly and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Thanks Lucy...You do always make me feel better you know that?" He asked, Lucy smiled and felt her large cotton ball tail shift to the left and right.

"I know...Just like you know you make me feel better when I'm sad too." She replied. Josh sighed a little.

"So...In a few hours we head off to Fortuna, you excited this is nearly over and can start our lives?" He asked, Lucy scoffed.

"For you maybe, the rest of us still have to serve at least two years before we can move on with our lives."

"Oh yeah, sorry." He chuckled, "Still, you're closer to your dream now than you were nine weeks ago...Professor Hare does have a nice ring to it."

"Yeah...I've always wanted to be an Astrophysicist since I was a six, that was seventeen years ago, now I have two years of army, and four years of schooling before I finally become and Astrophysicist. Six more years before I can truly live my dream, and yet it still seems like I'm six and waiting for a dream a life time away to happen." She said in a disappointing tone, Josh definitely knew that feeling. Lucy moved her head away from Josh's shoulder and turned her gaze to the clock on the other side of the room, **"3:47 A.M"**

"Well we have just under three hours before they come to wake us, I'm going back to sleep." She paused and placed both of her hands on his cheek and moved his face so he was looking at her. "Promise me you'll try to get some sleep." Josh could see in her eyes that she was truly concerned about him, he knew she wouldn't sleep well either if he didn't at least try to act like he was okay. He quickly smiled and rolled his eyes.

"yes mom." He said, Lucy gently smiled.

"Good boy." She said and moved one of her hands from his cheek to his head and started to scruff up his hair, "Wanna belly rub?" She asked in a teasing voice.

"Don't except me to shake my leg."

"Oh darn...Alright good night Josh." She said and removed her self from him and made her way to her own bed.

"Good night Lucy." He replied and watched as the Rabbit crawled into her bed, after some time had passed the Human turned his gaze back to Krystal's necklace and placed it around his neck, and secured it by tying the black leather string. The Human stood from his bed and headed towards the door, he pressed the push pad to the side and the door slid open. Lucy sadly watched as he left the room.

* * *

Josh began to type Krystal's number on the communication terminal, he had hopped that surely she would be there to answer the call. He knew that most likely he was going to be waking her up and he did feel bad about that, but he really needed to talk to her. Last he heard the facility in Fortuna didn't have public communication terminals, this was his last chance to get a hold of Krystal.

 **"Sending Call."** Josh leaned closer to the screen while he began to tap the desk with his fingers and nervously tapped his heel on the ground.

"Come on, come on, come on...Answer please." He nearly begged.

 **"Call connected."**

"Hey...This is Krystal, you know what to do." The automated machine said and then ended with a beep. Josh sighed and and clicked the end call button.

 **"Call ended."** Flashed on the screen, Josh placed his hands over his face and let out an agitated groan, after a few seconds he dragged his fingers roughly down his face and leaned all the way back into his chair. He took a deep breath and slowly let it all out while brushing his right hand through his hair. As the Human sat quietly for several minutes he thought that maybe Fox would know what was going on. Leaning back forward he began to type Fox's number.

 **"Sending Call."**

 **"Call connected."**

"Oh, that was fast." Suddenly the black screen pixilated and showed the brown and tan fur colored Vulpine. Fox had a slight confused look on his face.

"Josh?" He asked and looked away from the screen for a few seconds and turned his gaze back to the Human, "It's really early over there, shouldn't you be getting some sleep?" He asked, Josh nodded.

"I should be, but I haven't exactly been sleeping well lately."

"Well, is everything okay?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, oh yeah, yeah everything's fine." He lied, "Just uh, wanted to check in and see how things are going is all." He smiled. Fox raised a brow.

"At 1600 in the morning?" Josh bit the inside of his cheek.

"You're right, sorry man you're probably trying to sleep and I'm keeping you up..." Fox quickly interrupted.

"I wasn't trying to sleep Josh, we just got back from a mission and I was filling out a report for General Pepper." A mission? maybe that was why she wasn't answering his calls, she was on a mission and only just recently got back. Maybe she was just trying to relax.

"What kind of mission?" He asked, Fox shrugged his shoulders.

"Nothing exciting that's for sure, just a simple escort job." A different voice called out, Fox looked over and sighed.

"Can I help you?" Fox asked, suddenly Falco entered and placed his elbow on Fox's shoulder.

"Nah, just heard a familiar voice, how's it going hairless ape?" The bird asked, Josh chuckled. Ever since Falco heard how everyone at the Academy thought Josh would be a hairless ape he decided the name was too funny to pass up, so since then that has been Falco's official nickname for the human.

"I'm doing good Tweedy, how's everyone else doing?" Josh asked.

"Well, Slippy misses you. Keeps talking about how he has someone to try his inventions with, R.O.B hasn't mentioned you once I don't think, and well Krystal is more or less the same, except for when she has that one guy around, in fact he's here right now talking to her." Josh instantly looked at Fox.

"What guy?" He asked, Fox rolled his eyes and shoved Falco off of him.

"Cant you go be annoying somewhere else?" Fox asked, "Get out of here." Falco held his arms up.

"Alright, alright chill, I'm going...See ya hairless ape." Falco said and walked off.

"S-so what guy?" Josh asked.

"Don't believe anything that beak dick says. Besides Krystal isn't even here, She's doing an errand for me." Josh slowly nodded.

"Okay...Umm do you have her Arwings communication code?" He asked.

"That's not really something I can say over open coms, you understand?" He asked, Josh nodded.

"Yeah...Just haven't heard from her all day and was just getting a little worried I guess." Fox leaned forward a little.

"She's fine, trust me when she has a moment you will be the first person she contacts...Speaking of contact, I was told you'll be shipping out to Fortuna to finish your last week of training, you ready for it?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be." He replied.

"I know you'll pass, I believe in you and Krystal definitely believes in you.", Josh smiled a little.

"Thanks Fox, means a lot that you believe in me...How's your family?" He asked, Fox hadn't really talked about his family to the human except for maybe once. The Vulpine started to scratch his chin while yawning.

"Good, Tahlia recently got a promotion, she's really proud of that. Damon's starting to grow teeth, and he bit Tahlia when she was nursing him the other day. I thought it was kind of funny until she showed me the bit mark, which broke the skin and caused her to bleed a little. We're thinking of switching to bottle feeding if he keeps getting too rough." Josh gave a "hmm" sound.

"Could be he's just really kinky." He said, Fox chuckled a little.

"Funny, how's Lucy doing?"

"She's good, she wasn't exactly doing all that great the first few weeks. She actually wanted to quit at some point, but I managed to talk her out of it." Fox started to seem a little sad.

"Good, that's good. I'm really glad your there to help her out Josh, Lucy was devastated when I told her about Peppy. Its nice to know she has a your shoulder to lean on."

"Yeah, trust me I know that feeling all to well." Josh paused and looked at the clock, he had about two minutes left before the terminal ended his call, "Well, I should try to go back to sleep and get whatever rest I can...It was really great talking to you Fox."

"Likewise, and good luck...Only one more week."

"Doesn't feel that way." The Human replied, Fox nodded in agreement.

"Time always moves slower when we want it to go faster, and it always goes faster when we want it to go slower."

"No kidding, well I guess I'll see you at the end of the week." Said the Human.

"Looking forward to it, night Josh."

"Night Fox." Fox pushed a button on his console and the call ended.

 **"Call ended."** appeared on the terminal's screen. Josh reached over and pushed the power off button, the terminal's screen went completely dark. The only light source that kept the stall lit was from the dim yellow lights outside, shining in through the doors blurred glass window. Josh started to tap his fingers on the table for a few moments before scooting his chair back and standing up. The Human opened the door and made his way out of the communication lounge and left to go back to team Ragthorn's barracks.

* * *

 **This chapter was a lot shorter then I thought it was, I apologize for that. next Saturday I'll post ch 5 and 6, review and let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long wait. was going to post chapter five and six together but I don't know how long it'll take to finish six. So instead of waiting even longer I went ahead and posted five.**

* * *

 **Ch. 5**  
 **Last Week**

"Wake up you miserable piss ants!" D.I Skinner shouted, nearly everyone leapt out of their beds at his thunderous voice. Stout even squealed he was so shocked, Skinner only laughed at the display of his Cadet.

"Ha! for sixty-three days straight I've seen all of you jump in your beds like fuckin babies, and let me tell you...It never stops being funny, Shower and get dress. Our cooks have prepared something special for your last breakfast here." He said and eyed each of the Cadets, a small smile appeared on his face. Truthfully he was going to miss Ragthorn, while they were a bunch of piss ants they were also the best Cadets he ever got to train. "Carry on." He added before walking out of the room.

Everyone slowly and wearily began to get off from their beds, some of them let out a few groans as they made their way to their lockers to get their towels and CDAA uniforms. Once Nathan grabbed his he slowly made his way to the bathroom while rubbing his eyes, the hot shower was going to feel great against his fur. The Dog reached his hand to press the push pad, however a large white furred hand pressed it first. Nathan looked over at Leana and stared into her golden feline eyes, he felt his heart speed up a little and no longer felt tired, she looked so enticing. The way the morning light was shining in through the window and reflecting off her snow white fur, and the way there was a gleam in her beautiful eyes made every nerve in his body shout. He wanted to reach up and gently place one of his hands against her fury cheek and pull her face down so he could lean up and kiss her large lips. He didn't care that she would retaliate by ripping is head off with one hand, to know that he died kissing the strongest most beautiful creature he had ever known was worth it.

"Sorry Nate." She spoke in her angelic voice that easily entranced the Dog , "Ladies first."

"O-Of c-c-course...Ahem, of course." He nervously spoke and smiled at the goddess. Leana smiled back and walked into the shower area, Nathan followed her wonderful ass with his eyes and wondered if they were firm or soft. Suddenly Lucy came by and noticed his stare. She was still a bit upset about how embarrassed he made her, or was she? Maybe she wasn't just embarrassed, maybe she was a little bit jealous too. Lucy rolled her eyes in idle disgust at the Dog and then approached. She used her folded towel and smacked the Dog in the face with it. Nathan jerked his head back and started to rub his nose.

"What the hell?" He asked and looked over at Lucy who gave him a fake smile.

"Oops! sorry Nate." She lied and walked into the bathroom and pushed the push pad so he couldn't stare at Leana. Although maybe she hopped he caught a glimpse of her behind as she walked in. Once the door closed the Rabbit rolled her eyes and tried to push that thought away. Nathan frowned at the closed door and placed his hand against the cold steel, slowly he dragged his hand down the metal surface and placed his head against the door.

"I would give my left nut just to kiss her lips once." He softly said, Stout made his way over to Nathan and crossed his arms.

"You and I both know that if you tried to kiss those lips you would be devoured in a instant." He said, Nathan sighed.

"Oh Stout, I'm fine with that scenario, after all I ended up inside of her right?" He asked and turned towards his fellow Cadet and winked at him. Stout snorted at the sexual joke and sat down on Lucy's bed, which was closest to the bathroom. Nathan turned back to the closed door and painfully tore his gaze away, he spotted Josh and noticed the Human was sitting at the edge of the bed hunched over and asleep.

"Yo Grant!" Nathan called out, Josh snored and instantly woke up.

"I'm up, I'm up." He said and looked around the room until he saw Nathan and Stout, his eyes were blood shot and the bags under his eyes looked like they had bags. You would of honestly thought the Human was terminally ill with the way he looked "W-What is it?" He yawned.

"How much sleep did you get man?" Stout asked, Josh began to rub his eyes as he yawned some more.

"I don't know...Two, three full hours maybe." He guessed.

"When was the last time you got a full eight hours?" The Pig asked, Nathan scuffed.

"When was the last time any of us got a full eight hour sleep?" He asked, Stout shook his head and turned his attention back to his leader.

"You know what I mean, when was the last time you actually got a good nights sleep?" Josh yawned again and started to count off with his fingers.

"Ugh...First day I think." He said and started to scratch his head.

"Tell you what." Nathan started to say, Stout turned his gaze to the Dog, "I had the best sleep of my life about two days ago, I don't know why but I went to sleep and woke up fully refreshed." Stout nodded.

"I remember that day, you're more annoying when you're fully rested." He said and looked back at Josh only to find him slouched over again asleep.

"Did he just nod off?" Nathan asked and crossed his arms.

"Do you think we should take him to the med bay?" Stout asked, Nathan shook his head.

"Nah, lets just let him get as much sleep as he can get, thankfully the girls take long ass showers."

* * *

After the girls finished their shower the guys went and took theirs, after that they made their way to the mess hall and got their so called special breakfast, which wasn't all that special, normally breakfast consisted of eggs, hash browns, something very similar to bacon, toast and Milk. Only today they were given double what they normally got, Stout was the only one who actually considered it a "Special" breakfast. After the not so special breakfast the team made their way back to their barracks to grab their one personal item they brought to the Academy so they can bring it with them to Fortuna.

Josh made his way to his locker and only took out Krystal's necklace and secured it around his neck and then stuffed it inside his uniform, turning around he noticed his team was gathering their items. Lucy had brought an old photo of her and her Father Peppy, she was only a child in the photo and Peppy of course was much younger than when the Human knew him. Nathan had brought a round blue ball with him, Josh at one point was joking around and asked if the Dog wanted to go out side and play fetch. The reason why Nathan brought the ball as Josh found out later was that him and his older brother used to play with the ball, his brother was in the army and was killed in action. Nathan had joined the Academy so he could follow in his brothers footsteps.

Poor Stout had no personal item, he was an orphan most of his life. Stout had no friends at the orphanage, so he spent most of his time studying and reading. At the age of fifteen the orphanage sent him to the Academy.

Leana had a necklace as well, it was a brown leather string with a small fang attacked to it. Leana grew up on a different Star system, from what the Human remembered her planet was mostly one giant savanna. Half of the planet lived in the present while the rest lived in their old traditional ways. Leana lived with a tribe and as tradition when she turned thirteen she went on her first hunt. The fang attacked to the leather belonged to her first kill. Josh closed his locker and approached his team.

"Last week guys...Lets crank it up to an eleven and show them just what team Ragthorn can do." He said and held his hand out, Lucy was the first to lay her hand over his, then Stout and Nathan, lastly was Leana. Nathan instantly felt butterflies in his stomach when the lioness laid her massive hand on top of his, "One, two, three..."

"RAGTHORN!" They all cried in unison while throwing their hands into the air, shortly after D.I Skinner entered the room. Upon seeing him the team quickly got into their military pose.

"At ease Cadets." He spoke, everyone relaxed and waited for the instructor to talk. He eyed each and every single one of them for a few moments before clearing his throat, "A CDAA Star Cruiser is awaiting to take you five to Fortuna to finish your last week of training, remember all that you have learned and you will pass the final Aerial test. When I first looked at you five when you first arrived I saw nothing but weakness, fear, hesitation. Over the next nine weeks I pushed you and destroyed you, it was my job to flush out the weak. It was my job to go so hard on you that you quit, but you didn't. When one of you fell, another was there to help you back up. You learned to rely on each other, you kept each other strong. You weren't just a team, you were a family. The last week of training is the hardest, just remember that you are not just a team, you're family. Remember that and nothing can stand in your way."

* * *

After Skinners speech he lead his Cadets to the CDAA Hanger where their transport ship awaited. From what Josh could tell this Transportation ship was barely half the size of the Great Fox. One by one they entered the Star Cruiser through its ramp and were met up with a Soldier who took them to a cylinder shaped hall way that had a bunch of seats mounted to the walls. He instructed each of the Cadets to sit in one of the seats and to strap in. Josh had picked a random seat and sat down, he reached up and grabbed the safety belt and started to strap himself in. Two belts went across his mid section while two went over his shoulders, each one buckled to a device in between his legs. Once everyone had buckled themselves in the Solider came around to make sure they were tightly secured. He would be in a heat of trouble if one of the Cadets got launched out of their seats and injured themselves when the Cruiser made the Slip Space jump.

After he secured the Cadets he made his way out of the ship. Everyone could feel the ship shake after it began to take off, Josh gripped the edges of his seat tightly and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. The Human had no problem flying, however it was the take off part that always made him nervous, the way the craft jerked and shook always made him think it was about to explode. After a few seconds the shaking stopped and the Human released all the air he had in one long quiet sigh.

Up in the command bridge two Fox pilots started up the Slip Space systems. On their holo screen a image of the Lylat system appeared, the Pilot clicked on the Planet Fortuna which highlighted the object. After that a red button on their command console started to flash.

"I hope you Cadets are secured, we will activate the Slip Space jump in...5...4...3...2...1." The Co-Pilots spoke through the intercom systems and pressed the red flashing button. In the engine room the Slip Space generators began to loudly hum to life. Through the windshields of the bridge room the pilots watched as the stars stretched like gum and suddenly they were forced all the way back into their seats as they made the jump. They felt as if their stomach flew up into their throats as all their blood rushed to their feet. The Star Craft entered a spinning blue vortex with a dark abyss ahead of them that was unreachable. Once the ship had entered the spinning tunnel the pilots felt their bodies return to normal.

"We have successfully entered Slip Space, we will reach the Planet Fortuna in two hours. You may move around now." The Co-Pilot spoke. Team Ragthorn started to unbuckle themselves from the seats and made their way over to a door at the end of the cylinder hallway and opened it, on the other side was what looked like a living room area. There were two couches, two seats a large metal table in the center, a small kitchen area, a bedroom area and even a holo tv station.

"Oh hell yes!" Nathan cheered and raced for the Tv station, "I haven't watched Tv in ages." he said and instantly started to channel surf. Leana and Stout made their way to one of the couches and sat down with Nathan. Lucy turned around and notice Josh was yawning again. This was the tenth time within five minutes that he had yawned, the Hare furrowed her brows and then saw the bed room area. Lucy approached Josh and grabbed his hand and started to drag him along with her.

"Come with me please." She said and the two made their way to the bed room door, She pushed the push pad and the doors slid open revealing a small room with three bunk beds on the left, right and back wall. Each already had blankets and pillows. "Perfect." She said and turned her gaze to the Human."Lay down." She said in a demanding tone, Josh looked at Lucy with a raised brow and then looked at one of the bunks.

"I'm good." He said, Lucy crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I said lay down."

"Why?" He asked.

"Because you're exhausted Josh, that's why."

"No I'm not..." He started to say but Lucy cut him off.

"Stout told me you passed out twice in the shower and ended up cutting your arm." She spoke in a annoyed tone. Josh sighed.

"What's the point Lucy?" He asked, "It'll take me half the ride to go to sleep and in the end I'll wake up more tired than rested."

"You are our leader Josh, how can you lead us when you can barely keep your eyes open long enough to take a simple shower?"

"Oh that was nothing Lucy, come on I want to watch some tv." He said and tried to walk off, Lucy growled and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Lay down and go to sleep, or I'll knock your ass out myself!" She snapped and glared into the human's brown eyes with her own purple ones. Josh lowered his head in defeat and loudly sighed.

"Fine...Jesus sometimes you're a pest." he said and moved to one of the lower bunks and laid down on them. "There I'm laying down, happy now?" He asked

"I'm always happy, please Josh...Do this for me." She said and sounded sad, Josh looked at the Rabbit and made his way off the bed and approached her.

"I don't sleep well...Because I have nightmares Lucy." He painfully confessed. Lucy looked at him and her ears lowered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.

"And say what? That apparently I get nightmares if I go too long without sleeping next to someone? Do you have any idea how weak and pathetic that sounds? Do you have any idea how weak and pathetic it makes me feel?" Lucy's ears lowered even more when she heard him say that.

"You're not weak Josh, you're one of the strongest men I've ever met." She said and tried her best to hide the sadness in her tone. Josh scuffed.

"I'm not strong...Strong men don't have nightmares, Strong men don't cower from the thought of sleep. Strong men don't need to cuddle next to someone to keep the nightmares out...I'm not strong Lucy, I'm far from it." He said and turned his back on her, Lucy felt her heart break for him, he wasn't weak, everyone depended on him, how could he think that he was weak when his own team looks up to him for advice and comfort.

"You're wrong...You kept me from quitting remember, my mind was set on it, but you talked me out of it. Through every training exercise you have always held us together, when one of us stumbled you were always there to help us up. You led us here Josh, you brought us to the end of the training program. The whole time you carried our weight on your shoulders, it takes a strong person to do that and not crack, to hang on and continue pushing forward. To care more about your team mates than yourself...If you are so weak, then why are you still here Josh?" The Human straightened his back and turned to look at Lucy.

"For Krystal, Fox...And...You." He softly said and sat down on one of the bunks, Lucy slowly approached her friend and sat down next to him.

"What do you mean?" She asked, Josh sighed and looked into her eyes.

"You are my friend...What you think of me is more important than what anyone else here thinks, I didn't want to think about what you would have thought of me for talking you out of quitting and then think about quitting myself. I didn't want to disappoint you, Krystal, or Fox. Fox had to kiss a lot of ass to get me here, Krystal has put so much faith in me, you look up to me. Knowing what all was at stake, there was no way I could quit. So I dealt with the nightmares my own way."

"Josh, you can end up killing yourself by doing what your doing. Don't wonder about what we would think if you quit...Wonder what we would think if you killed yourself. Do you think Krystal would forgive you? Being so close to finally being together again and then you end up killing yourself because you tried to beat the nightmares by staying up all the time? You and I both know if she knew what was going on, she would knock your ass out if it meant getting you the rest your body needs. Don't try to beat it your way, nightmares pass in time. You just have to hang on, please just hang on. If not for yourself than for everyone who cares about you." Josh remained silent for a few moments, he absorbed all that she had said and thought hard about it, he knew she was right. His body couldn't take much more sleep depravation, he got less than twelve hours of sleep last week. He turned his gaze to Lucy and placed his right hand on her left knee and gave it a gently squeeze.

"Alright Lu...I'll try your way, if I piss myself you'll have to clean up the mess." He said with a smile, Lucy let out a relieved sigh.

"If you end up shitting yourself I'd clean it up, so long as you got the sleep you needed." She said and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Thank you." She said.

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't forget to turn the light off." He replied, Lucy nodded and moved away from the bed and approached the door and light switch. She looked back to find Josh getting comfortable in the bed, she gently smiled and opened the door and turned the lights off and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.  
Josh stared into complete darkness, already he could feel sleep calling out to him, and the nightmares that follow. Placing one hand behind his head he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him. He wished Krystal was there, but she wasn't. Using his other hand he unzipped his CDAA suit a little and pulled out Krystal's necklace and squeezed it tightly. Soon he succumbed to sleep and the nightmares began.

* * *

Lucy made her way over to the couch with the rest of her team, Nathan was as close to Leana as he could possibly get without siting on her. However she didn't even seem to notice, all three's eyes were glued to the holo screen. Lucy turned her attention to the holo screen to find they were watching some reality show, Lucy rolled her eyes, she hated reality shows. They weren't even real half the time and everything was scripted, Lucy moved away from the tv and made her way to the small kitchen area and sat down at the round metal table.

The Rabbit reached her hand into her uniforms pocket and pulled out the old picture of her and her Father, this picture was always in Peppy's room aboard the Great Fox. After he passed Fox gathered it along with a few of Peppy's belongings and gave them to her, when Fox gave her the bad news she broke down on the spot. Fox managed to grab a hold of her before she fell to the ground and pulled her close to him. She had never cried so much or so hard her whole life then that moment. She cried for what felt like hours into his shoulder, she thought she might have ruined Fox's jacket, but he certainly didn't care about that. In the picture she was no more than ten at the time. She had both of her arms wrapped around Peppy's neck as he had one arm around her waist. They were both smiling, as she looked at her younger self smile she could only think of what she felt at the moment that picture was taken.

She was happy, happy that she was with her Father, her hero. That no matter what he would always be there for her when she needed him, she was naïve to believe that could happen, naïve to think that nothing could stop him. Suddenly the picture started to get blurry as tears began to form in her eyes, not wanting her teammates to see her cry she quickly wiped her eyes dry and placed the photo back into her pocket.

'I miss you Dad, so much.' She thought and could feel her eyes sting as the tears threatened to come back.

* * *

A little over two hours later the CDAA Star Cruiser exited from Slip Space, the green rainforest planet of Fortuna was insight. As the Cruiser entered the planet's atmosphere one of the pilots opened a com channel to one of the CDAA facilities on the planet.

"This is the Cornerian Defense Army Academy Star Cruiser, serial code 14-G2-8890. Approaching Cornerian Army air space, transporting five CDAA Cadets to the George facility, respond." The Pilots said and waited for someone to answer back.

"This is the George facility, sending coordinates to your terminal now" A voice responded.

"Roger that." The Pilot responded, the Co-Pilot began to push some buttons and then the coordinates for the facility appeared, clicking the numbers on the console's screen activated the auto pilot, near the bottom of the screen the estimated time till arrival was displayed as **"15 MINUTES"** The Co-Pilot then moved his hand over to the intercom switch and flipped it.

"Cadets we will be arriving at the facility in fifteen minutes, go ahead and make your way to the back and strap yourselves down before we land." He spoke and turned the intercom off.

"After we drop off the Cadets lets hit the bars, I need a drink." The Pilot said, the Co-Pilot nodded.

"I could sure go for one that's for sure, I know this nice bar back on Corneria. Great drinks, and there's this lovely blond Vixen who will suck you off for a hundred credits, sure its a lot for a blow job but the things she can do with her tongue is unbelievable." The Pilot began to snicker.

"Come on man, you know I'm getting married soon."

"I know, but does she suck you off?" The Co-Pilot asked, The Pilot rolled his eyes.

"What's with you and talking about blow jobs lately? I'm starting to get the feeling that you've never even had one..." Before the Pilot could finish a small beep turned both of the Vulpines attention to the console screen.

"We got a ship approaching." The Co-Pilot said.

"Is it Military? They didn't say anything about an escort." The Pilot asked in a worried tone. The Co-Pilot did a quickly check on the Craft following them.

"It's armed as one, but it sure as hell is not military!" He said. Suddenly their ship's warning system came up.

 **You have been locked onto, evasive maneuvers recommended**

"Oh shit, that fucker has a missile locked on us!" The Pilot shouted, "God I hope those Cadets are strapped in."

* * *

After hearing what the Co-Pilot said the cadets started to make their way back to the cylinder hallway filled with seats, Lucy made her way to the bedroom and opened the door, she flipped the light switch and found Josh sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I heard." He said, Lucy closed the door behind her and approached the Human.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" She asked and hoped that he did, the Human nodded a little.

"Yeah I got some, don't fell any different though. I'm still tired as hell." He softly chuckled at the last part in a attempt to fool Lucy into thinking he was alright. The Rabbit could sense his falseness and crossed her arms.

"When we land I'm taking you to the med bay to get looked at...Don't even think about trying to stop me either." she said and glared at the Human. Josh sighed, he knew there wasn't anything a doctor could do for him. However if it would get Lucy off his back about it then so be it. Josh tried to say something however just as he was opening his mouth the Star Cruiser roughly jerked to the right. The Human and Rabbit were forced off balance and collided into each other as they slammed against the wall.

While most of Lucy's body was smothering his face, he was able to see little bit past her and could see Nathan, Stout and Leana rolling around on the floor grunting and groaning as they did.

"What the Fuck was that about!" Nathan shouted, Lucy quickly removed herself from Josh and looked at her friend with concern.

"Are you alright?" She asked, despite a minor back pain the Human was alright.

"Yeah I'm good...What about you?" He asked and suddenly the Ship jerked roughly to the left which caused Josh to lounge forward. The Human smacked his head against Lucy's hard and the two tumbled out of the room when the Ship started to preform all sorts of moves. The Cadets began rolling around on the floor, walls, and ceiling and sometimes smacking into each other. Not knowing the pilots were trying to get out of the unknown ships missile lock. In a last attempt the Pilots made the ship head straight up.

The Cadets began to fall to the back of the ship, yet they managed to grab ahold of some of the furniture that was bolted to the ground. Josh however was unlucky and ended up smacking against the back wall of the cylinder shaped room. He felt like his head had just split open and placed his hand over his forehead and felt it was slick with blood. It didn't take long before his vision started to go dark. In his last few moment of conciseness he managed to force his body into one of the seats and tightly strapped himself in.

The Ship suddenly made a nose dive which forced all the Cadets to the forward of the Ship. The unknown Ship fired its missile and the bomb followed after the Military Ship. The pilot kept the ship heading down until the missile was close enough and then they quickly sent the Ship back upwards again, it would have been a narrow escape but they would miss the missile. However the Missile was a tracker and went up as well and struck the ship. The lower half as well as the Cylinder shaped room was torn away from the rest of the Ship. Lucy stared with wide eyes and the large gapping hole where her friend use to be.

While missing half of its self the Ship began to spin out of control and ended up crashing to the ground.

* * *

 **There you go, for updates on the story head over to my deviantart account "FanwriterF" I sometimes put updates there.**

 **please review and let me know what you think. Reviews are very important to me. it lets me know what you think of the story.**

 **0 reviews = 0 inspiration to finish the story. Any writer can tell you that. While it might not seem like such a big deal to some, it is a very big deal to me. I need to know what you think and if you even like the story, the more reviews I get about how much you like the story, the more inspired I am to finish the story for you.**

 **until next time.**


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